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Kotex ‘Pad Racer’ game digitizes discomfort

The 8-bit branded video game trend has officially reached new heights, thanks to U by Kotex.

The feminine hygiene brand created a “Save the Undies” video game, which essentially makes you a pad that has to save pairs of underwear from red droplets.

Infer what you will from the imagery, but when you visit the brand’s “Save the Undies” microsite, you’re greeted with the message that “millions of undies are ruined every month by because of some ordinary pads.”

I’d like to see the research that came up with those numbers.

The brand describes the game thusly:

A “Pad Racer” game is a flashback to the ’80s as you zoom around town on a pad, using 3D Capture Core technology to grab all of those pesky red drops – avoid the dreaded cramps and you might get the high score!

At the end of the game, your score is displayed with the option to “let the world know” via Facebook, Twitter or email. I chose not to let the world know.

Kotex worked with the agency Organic to make the game. The SF Egotist didn’t have the kindest words for it: “They made a game where you catch period blood? Is it April 1, because this has to be a joke. All that money spent on a game no one will play.”

Kotex isn’t the first brand to jump into the video game fray.

In 2012, Old Spice famously launched an 8-bit game featuring the enigmatic former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo. There were multiple installments of the video game over the course of a month. According to this Crimson Hexagon case study, “brand discussion more than doubled in volume during the life of the campaign.”

And in case you’re wondering whether this U by Kotex campaign is just a one-off play for some cheap conversation, the website claims that more video games are coming soon.